Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-07-02
Y~@@
81 E0o.
BY H.NDER HAG6ARD,
Fut9or0t 'Nes Soion,oEyaupes 5bcEle.
tCONTINUED.)
CHAPTER XXI.


goods as they possessed. 1here was not much
chance of its being of any material use, for
he did not in the slightest degree expect that
they would get the pass; but, as he cheer
fully said it was as good an amusement as
any other.
II say, jess, >" he sung out presently, "come
here"
What for!" answered Jess, who was seated
on the doorstep mending something, and
looking at her favorite view
Because want to speak to YOU"
She got up and Went, feeling rather angry
with herself for going.
Well, she said, tartly, "here am. What
is it"
81 have finished packing the cart, that's
ALL
"And YOU ineau to tell me that you have
brought me round here To say thatf
YES, of course have; exercise is good for
the young And then he laughed, and she
laughed too.
1t was all nothing nothing at all-but
somehow it was very delightful Certainly
mutual affection even when unexpressed,
has a way of making things go happily, and
can find something to laugh at anywhere.
Just them who should come up but Mrs.
Neville, iii a great state Of excitement, and,
as usual. flaming herself with her hat
What do you think, Capts Nell the
prisoners have come in, and | heard one of
the Beers in charge say that he had a pass
signed by the Boer general for some English
people, and that he was coming over to see
about them presently. Who can it be!'
at is u.s." said jess quickly. I'VE are
going home saw Hans Coetzee yesterday
and begged him TO try and get us pass, and
| suppose he has
INV word! gong 10 get outa Well, YOU
are lucky! Let me sit down and write a let
ter to my great uncle at the Cape You must
post it when You Gait He is 81 and rather
soft. but dare say he will like to hear from
me- aud she bundled off into the house to
give her aged relative (who, by the way,
Iaborel under the impression that she was
still little girl of years of age as minute
an account OF the siege of Pretoria as time
would allow
"Well, John. YOU had better tell Mouti te
put the h,sses in We shall have to start
presently said jess.
"Ay," he said pulling his beard thought
fully. Il suppose that we SHALL adding, by
NdN VI tli dlitl lhpu1bA. SAiF ti sieiti W
gof1
"No" she said with sudden fash of pas
sion and stamp of the foot. aud then turned
and entered the house again.
"Mouti" said John to the Zulu who was
lOunging around in way characteristic OF
that intelligent but unindustrious race. in
span the horses. We are going back TO MoOi-
fontein.'
"kooS7 chief, said the Zulu unconcernedly.
and started on the errand rs though it were
the most every day occurrence to drive off
home out of a closely heleaguered town. That
Is another beauty of the Zulu race; You can
not astonish them They. no doubt, consider
that that, to them, extraordinary mixture OF
wisdom and insanity, the white man, is, as
the agnostic French critic said in despair of
the prophet Zerubbabel, Capable de tout
John stood and watched the inSpanning
absently The fact was that he, too, was con
sciouS of sensation of regret. He felt
ashamed of himself for it, but there it was
he was sorry 10 leave the place. For the last
week or 50 he had been living in n dream and
everything outside that dream was blurred
and iu1istinct as landscape in a fog. He
knew the things were there, hut he did not
quite appreciate their relative size and posi-
ton. The only real thing was bis dream; al
else was as vague as those far off people and
events that we lose Ill infancy and find again
in old age.
And now there would be an end of dream
ing; the fog would lift, and he must face thu
facts jess, with whom he had dreamed
would go away TO Europe and he woulC
| marry BESSIE and all this Pretoria business
would glide away into the past like a watcl
in the night Well it must he so; it wa
right and proper that it should he So and b
for one was not going TO finch from his duty
but he would have been more than human
| had he not felt the pang of awakening. |
was all 50 very unfortunate.
By this time Mouti had got the horses up
| and asked If he was to inspan
MOI wait hit. said John Very likel,
| it is all rot, he added t0 himself
Scarcely Were the words out of his mOutl
when he caught sight of two armed Beers o
a peculiarly unpleasant type and rough ap
| pearance riding across the veidt towar,
| THE Palatial7 gate, escorted by four car
bineers. At the gate they stopped, and on
| of them dismouted and came mp TO where h
was standing by the stable door
capt. Nell" he said intcrrogatively il
| English
That is my name
| "Then here is letter for YOU" and h
| handed him folded paper
John opened tit had no enyelope-au
read as follows:
"SIR-The bearer of this has with him
Oh,
| giving Won and Miss jess Crofta safe conduc
| TO Mooifontein, in the Wakkcrstroom distric
| of the republic The onlva condition attache,
| TO the pass. which is signed nv one of the hor
| Orabe triumvirate is that you must carry n
| dispatches out of Pretoria. Upon your givin
| your word Of honor to the bearer that yo
will not do this he will hand YOU ,he pass"
This letter. which was fairly written an
| in good English had no signature
"Who wrote this" asked John of the Doe,
| THAT is no affair of yours, was the cur
| reply "Will you pass your word about til
| dispatches
yes"
Good Here is the pass" ard he hande
| over that document to John 1t was in til
same handwriting as the letter, but signed b
| the BOer general.
John examined it and then called to Jess (
come and translate it. She was on her wa
| round the corner of the house as he did S,
having heard the voice of the Boer
at means, Pass the bearers unframed, =
she said, land the signature is correct / hay
seen the generals signature before"
when must we start p asked John
| At once or not at all -
Il must drive round by the headauartc
camp to explain about my going. They wi
think that have run away
To this the Boer denurred but finally
| after going to the gate to consult his con
| panion, consented, and the two rode back I
the headquarter camp, saving that the
would wait for the cart there, whereupon I'll
horses were inspanned.
In five minutes everything was ready. al
the cart was standing in the roadway
| front of the little gate After he had locke
to all the straps and buckles and seen tn;
everything was properly hacked, John wei
to call jess lie found her standing nv Il
doorsteps, looking out at her favorIte view
Her band was placed sideways against h
forehead, as though to shade her eyes frol
the sun. But where she was standing the
was no sun, and John could not help g1Iessr
4. l.